Reduction of organic substances.



F. BEDFORD.

REDUCTION 0F ORGANIC SUBSTANOES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 17, 1909.

Petented Feb.22,1910.

A 0i'. Fred, Beal ord,

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FRED BEDFORD,

SMEs/A REDUCTION OF ORGANIC SUBSTANCES.`

specification of Letters Patent.

Appneauon med June v17, i909. serial No. 502,740..

To all whom 'it may concern.'

Be itI known that I, FRED BEDFORD, lh. D. B. Sc., London, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, and residing at Sleaford, in the county of Lincoln, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in and Relating to the Reduction of Organic Substances. of which thel following is a specification.

Thisinvention relates -to the reduction of organic substances such as organic unsaturated fluids and solids`by converting them into saturated compounds, for instance, the conversion of unsaturated fatty acids or their esters into saturated acids or their esters, respectively, or the reduction of nitrobodies, such as for instance, nitro-benzole and ketones, for example benzo-phenone.

The invention has special reference to the' process described in patent application Serial No. 409518 the object of the present invention being to increase the yield of reduced substance and to insure a thorough bleaching of the latter.

According to the presentinvention the tower or vessel in which the reduction occurs is placed under vacuum or connected with a suitable vacuum chamber.

The accompanying diagram illustrates in section one formv ofapparatus which may be employed.

In carrying out the invention according to one mode a tower, a, is partly lled with nickel coated pumice stone, b, prepared for instance, in the manner described in the before mentioned specification and forming a porousmass and supported on grids c. When nickel, for example, is used as a catalytic substance, it is deposited on its support by reduction from its nitrate. The substance which is to form the support for the nickel may be fragments of pumice stone, porous earthenware or the like, and it is placed in the solution and allowed to stand for some time, after which the excess solution is drawn off or the nitrate solution is allowed to'low on to the support in vacuum. The pumice stone or other supportis then heated over a fire in a crucible to convert the nitrate into oxid. If the layer is too thin, the operation of soaking in nitrate solution and heating must be repeated. Finally, it is introduced into a suitable receptacle or tower and heated to, say, from 275-0 to 300O C. in a current of hydrogen with or without the addition of `ether or other organic vapor (which does not destroy the catalytic' properties of the nickel), to convert the .nickel oxid into nickel, and as soon as reduction is complete, thecontents are allowed to cool to the temperature at which the reduction is to take place, e. g. for oleic acid and oils 160o `to 200 C. This material is placed in the tower as illustratedin the drawings at b. At a suitable point, somewhat near the bottom of this tower, the substance to be reduced is introduced in a form of spray, for instance, it is preferably `sprayed in a liquid form by means of hydrogen, the spray nozzle, rose, or other device, d, being connected with a vessel containing the substance in a liquid form which is forced out of the vessel by means of hydro-gen under pressure and upon a mass of catalytic material supported on grids similarl to that in the upper part of the tower. The upper part of the tower, ay is connected by a pipe or conduit, e, to a receiving vessel, f, in which a partial vacuum ismaintained by means of a vacuum pump.

'A cooler such as a coil, g, in a water tank, h, is preferably interposed between the receiver f and the tower a. The connection from the vacuum pump to the vacuum or receiving vessel f is adapted to prevent as much aspossible the passage of reduced substance to the pump, traps or any other devices being interposed for this purpose.

The receiver is provided Lwith a pipe indicated at f', which leads to a vacuum pump of any suitable or well known kind.

Hydrogen is introduced through a perforated ring, z', or the like at the bottom part of the tower, a, below the lower grid a shield, 7c, being provided if required to prevent choking of the holes in the ring t', should the apparatus be allowed to stand.

As an example illustrating the application of the process to a specific raw material the conversion of commercial oleic acid as obtained from cotton oil t-o a stearic acid may be described as follows The oleic acid is first subjected to a preliminary purification by any well known method such as by distillation. It is then sprayed in through the nozzle; cl, by means of hydrogen under a pressure above that of the atmosphere. The liquid oleic acid is preferably at a temperature of about 200o C. and a diminished presv sure of about 50 to 100 millimeters is maintained within the tower, a, by a vacuum Patented Feb. 22, 1910.v

pump as above described. The sprayed' liquid acid coming into contact"with the catalytic substance isfor the greater part reduced, vaporizes and passes upwardly through a further mass of cata-lytic substance and thence through'the cooling coil, g, which is maintained at a temperature of about 180C C. so: as to prevent solidification and 'enable the stearic acid 'to be drawn olf through the receiver, The catalytic substance in the tower may be maintained at a temperature of about 200o C. in any well known manner, for instance by surrounding the tower, a, by'an oil bath.

It is found in pract-ice that according to this improved method or process not only is the yield of reduced substance greatly increased, but that the substance is more thoroughly bleached than when a process of reduction is carried on at or above atmospheric pressure. By connecting the tower to the vacuum chamber the substance to be reduced when it is sprayed-upon the nickel coated compound or other catalytic substance and simultaneously meets the hydrogen introduced in any suitable 'mannen is not only reduced as described in the before mentioned specication but vaporizes and being dispersed as a vapor throughout the tower comes into cbntact with thel catalytic subst-ance and hydrogen therein and passes off to the vacuum chamber or receiver. The tendency for the reduced substance to remain upon the catalytic substance and thereby to decrease the available effective area, is avoided, so that the yield from a certain plant pier unit of time is greatly increased.

The best results are obtained by first spraying the substance to be reduced on to the catalytic substance at the ordinary pressure, for instance at or about atmospheric pressure, and when a certain lquantity has been sprayed, putting the apparatus at the same temperature, under vacuum and drawing off the reduced substance. more substance collects in the receiver, more substanceis sprayed on to the catalytic substance and so on. f

It is obvious that several towers or reducing plants can be connected up to one `common vacuum or receiving chamber.

The invention is not confined to the use of any particular form of tower or reducing chamber, so Ilong as it is capable of carrying outthe process described and is also capable of being placed under vacuum or low pressure.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is l. A process for reducing liquid organic substances, consisting in drawing said substances in a finely divided'form and in the' presence of hydrogen, through la porous mass of catalytic material, into a. recelver in which a partial vacuum is maintained.

2. A process for reducing liquid organic substances, consisting in drawing said substances in a finely divided form and, in the presence of hydrogen, through a porous mass of catalytic material and through a cooling coil, into a receiver in which a partial vacuum is maintained.

In testimony whereof, I aiix my signature in'presence of two witnesses.

FRED BEDFORD.

Witnesses:

A. W. MATHYS, P. A. OUTHWAITE.

When no 45- y 

